Ive got an interesting one....hasnt been a problem but as im picking with my system - makes me wonder how it actually works. This is for info only as i figured how to manage it...but as noted - be interested in seeing how the logic works.
I have a 9 zone custom irrigation system that uses 3 Zen 16s. Works great. I control this with Simple Sprinklers. Within Simple Sprinklers - you can add multiple schedules by creating a new sprinkler setup. I have 3 different schedules ( 3 discrete setups). one for 3 mins at 5 am, one for 2 mins at 6 am and another for 3 minutes at 6pm.
There is an option in Simple sprinklers for a manual cycle. "Start sprinklers when a specific switch is turned on". I use a virtual switch to control this - also works great.
Each of my 3 discrete sprinkler schedules has this virtual switch enabled.
So here is the question.
I have the virtual switch in a dashboard with all of the 9 zones visible. I press it - it activates the sprinklers....BUT i wonder which schedule its running? The 3 mins at 5 am schedule, the 2 mins at the 6 am schedule or the 3 mins at the 6pm schedule?
The difference between all of these schedules is immaterial but if i has a 2 min schedule say vs a 10 min schedule - it might make a difference. To avoid confusion - im only going to enable 1 of these schedules to have the manual option.
Anyway - just wondering on a sun afternoon while i pick with my system!
TIA
Mac
@macdenewf Well for one you can look at the logs live as you're pusing the buttons.
If you are pressing a button for the zone (your solenoid feeding that area) and it comes on and you press it and it turns off, that means you are not using a schedule for that function, you are simply manually activating that zone. Now if you activate that zone just before one of your schedules, then the rule will run and turn off that zone at the end of that schedule.
If you're looking to have a manual zone control to start a sprinkler (lets say push the button for that zone and have it go off a few mins later) then you will need to create a whole separate rule for that. If button pushed, zone 6 comes on, wait 3 mins, turn off.
I don't think you missed anything. The schedules take care of the daily water needs. The manual (virtual with) is only used if i see that the area needs an extra few minutes on any given day,
I tried looking in the logs...what a mess. These Zen 16s seem to over report status. Once i pressed the virtual switch i get a ton of entries that specific switches on on or off... is there something specific im looking for to see which all was called when i press the virtual switch?
Cheers
mac
Well, as I said a button push won't show a schedule as you'd be manually activating. What you could do is use that virtual switch to run the zone rule itself. (Then the rule desc would show up in the logs).
If you want to spend the money and get some serious water savings and accuracy, I can recommend the Rachio 3. Direct integration with Hubitat, and uses local weather stations. If you even want more minutia then that it can directly integrate with Weatherflow's Tempest (which can also integrate into HE)
Interesting timing on you replying.
It was only yesterday that i cut onto my main line and added 2 new zones - then ran new wires to those and a new wire to another zone where i had 2 valves ganged together ( so i could finally separate them )
I installed some trees a while back pulled a drip line off of a sprinkler head. To get enough water to my trees i have to over-water the lawn so since adding the 2 new zones - i can cap off all the sprinkler heads that are just hitting the trees - set the drip line timing for what ever it needs then balance the water between lawn and trees more accurately.
I was going to pull another zen 16 from my fun drawer and connect these 3 discrete zones ......so as noted - very timely on the Rachio topic.
Can you tell me a little more on the HE - RAchio integration please? and - would need 12 zones. Im about to go look to see what they sell.
Very interested - thanks
Mac
My Orbit B-Hyve 12 zone sprinkler controller died. Finally, I have an excuse to replace it with something like this Zigbee 12 channel relay for less than $20 USD.
If thing don't work, then I guess I will need to roll up my sleeves and set up one of these reverse engineering setup using a Tuya hub and a USB Zigbee stick as a sniffer. Hoping someone helps me make sure I buy the right setup for this effort to reverse engineering. I'll like to help the community as I have benefited greatly from other's efforts in the past.
Hi Alex,
Normally, it is not necessary to use any Zigbee sniffers for new devices. I use a sniffer very rarely, in fact, I haven't used it for more than one year, until last week, for a very specific need.
I can recommend you to purchase the new Zemismart M1 Zigbee/Thread/Matter hub if you don't have any Tuya gateway yet. Then make a Tuya 'developer' account following the links in this thread. When you get the new unsupported Tuya device, pair it to the Tuya/Zemismart hub. From your tuya.iot.com you can see enough details about which 'data points' are used by this device for what function. Normally, this is enough information to add support for a new Tuya device in HE. Also, searching GitHub for this device model/manufacturer almost always reveals enough information too - ZHA / Zigee2MQTT / deConz guys are usually a few weeks or a few months ahead... with very few exceptions : )
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I'll go try to find that Zemismart hub after I send this email. I have a question. Is there a link that I can reference to see the work of the "ZHA / Zigee2MQTT / deConz" guys? Which forum or websites should I add to my reading list for those developments.
I don't read regularly anything in the GitHub groups, this will be a full-time job.,.. : ) I just search GitHub for specific device information.
As an example, it helped me today to (hopefully) find a solution for a very weird problem related to one of the 24GHz radars (_TZE204_ijxvkhd0) not retaining its sensitivity settings.
Login to GitHub and press the backslash key '/' to search for _TZE204_ijxvkhd0
It is a matter of practice and experience to search Github and to find the needed information for new Zigbee device quickly, without the need to use any Zigbee sniffers. This is my method.
@kkossev, I received the 12 channel relay a couple days ago. I have setup Tuya IoT development environment and can see the 12 chan relay in the cloud and can control it from the cloud and my iPhone via the Zemismart M1 Matter hub. Looks like the Zigbee2MQTT folks have added supported recently.
However, I can't seem to figure out how to use the Tuya IoT website to figure out the Tuya payload being sent to the Tuya EF00 cluster. Reading the code at Zigbee2MQTT the data points are broken down into two groups. The first six relays 1 - 6 are numbered 1-6. The last six are numbered 100 + (1-6). i.e. 0x65 to 0x6A. Seems similar to the 6 channel relay that they previously supported, with the 6 added relays starting at the 100 decimal offset. Also the the Tuya 4-1 driver that you maintain accidental claims this relay via its fingerprint. Zigbee ID info attached. It s
Final of note, my specific unit looks a little different than the one they have pictured in the Zigbee2MQTT photo. I has 4 headers with wired pigtails attached. 3 of headers are 4 pins each and appear to be external inputs to enable each relay (4 pin x 3 headers = 12 total control pins). There is also a two pin header with with pigtail attached, a power and ground. From testing, it looks like the 12 control pins are relay toggles. Each time one 12 pins are get voltage from the two pin heater power pin it toggle the associated relay on and off. This state is reflected in the zigbee status of each relay. Perhaps these can be configurable to stateless input as well. I haven't checked.
I tried to get it to work using example habitat switch drivers out there that support Tuya switches but I was unsuccessful. I'm still new to Zigbee and I think the application code 0x4a is different enough to the other drivers I have tried to make the Tuya cluster payloads incompatible to the other driver I tried by Martin Kura. Which use the same Tuya cluster EF00 but application codes of 0x42 and 0x46. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/martinkura-svk/Hubitat/main/Moes%20ZigBee%20Wall%20Switch
